1. Cross border Patients’ rights Claire Damilano, Senior Legal Manager European Citizen Action Service U-Impact debate in Rome – 4 March 2016 4/03/2016U-impact1

2. What should be done? Health care and free movement? What do we learn from YEA 4/03/2016U-impact2

3. What is Your Europe Advice ECAS provides the “Your Europe Advice” service as an external contractor for the European Commission:  Since 1996, formerly Citizens’ Signpost Service (CSS);  Network of experienced multilingual lawyers from all EU Member States;  Any individual can ask questions in any official EU language about his/her EU rights, most often concerning cross-border situations;  Replies provided within less than one week and in any official EU language;  Enquiries can be submitted either online or by telephone, and replies are provided either by e-mail or by phone;  More than 22 000 replies provided in 2015– all-time high.

4. Access via the Your Europe website http://europa.eu/youreurope/

5. Direct Access http://europa.eu/youreurope/advice/index_en.htm

6. Health care and free movement? What do we learn from YEA 4/03/2016U-impact6

7. 1. General trends for 2015 Topics 4/03/2016U-impact7

8. 4/03/2016U-impact8

9. 4/03/2016U-impact9

10. 4/03/2016U-impact10

11. 4/03/2016U-impact11

12. 2. Feedback from YEA experts:  Most frequent EU patients’ requests for information: Will my prescription be recognised in another EU Member State? Can I seek healthcare abroad if the treatment is not available in my country? When would I need prior authorisation from my national authority?  Most frequent EU patients’ complaints: Denied reimbursements ; Authorisation refused; Non recognition of medical prescriptions. 4/03/2016U-impact12

13. 3. Analyses from YEA experts:  Interaction between Directive 2011/24/EU and the Regulations on social security coordination remains unclear for most of the national & local authorities;  When reimbursement is possible under both routes, the Directive route only applies if the patients request it explicitly, which means a good understanding of both texts;  Partial transposition of the Directive;  Lack of coordination between the National Contact Points; 4/03/2016U-impact13

14. 4/03/2016U-impact14 What should be done?

15. Some proposals  Highlight the positive implications of the Directive;  Raising awareness about first-hand information available at EU level has to be considered as an essential part of enabling citizens to exercise and enforce their rights;  A wide-ranging information campaign;  A better training of the institutions and persons involved; 4/03/2016U-impact15

16. Thank you for your attention! Contact information: ECAS : Claire Damilano, claire.damilano@ecas.orgclaire.damilano@ecas.org ECAS – European Citizen Action Service –AISBL, 77 Avenue de la Toison d’or – B-1060 Brussels - Belgium Tel: +32-2 548 04 90 – Fax: +32-2 548 04 99 – E-mail: info@ecas.org – Website: http://www.ecas.org /info@ecas.orghttp://www.ecas.org /